Falling
by nogthenog
Summary: More fallout at Aornos


Anahita shivered. A cold blast of air blew aside the rich tapestry hanging over the window. She caught a brief glimpse of the dark night sky outside. The deep mid-winter snowflakes danced across the window, driven by the biting wind.

Roxanna looked up crossly at the flapping tapestry. She sighed and threw a cushion at her younger sister.

"I'm bored," she announced.

Anahita shot her a nervous glance. Nothing any good ever came when her sister was bored. She thought it wise not to respond. She concentrated on the patterns the dying embers were making in the hearth.

Roxanna fidgeted with her hands and gave her sister a quick look.

"It is so dull here without the men. Iskandar should not have gone off to start a new campaign and left us here with nothing to do."

Roxanna paused to see if her sister reacted. She did not.

"We should take lovers," she announced.

Anahita gave her a startled look.

"There are plenty of young men around to keep us entertained," Roxanna continued. She was determined to confide her plan to her sister.

Anahita's mouth opened and she gave her older sister a wide-eyed stare. She wanted to say something, but she was so shocked, the words would not come. This madness of her sister's had trouble written all over it.

Ohrmuzd bowed slightly.

"Slioch," was his slightly forced welcome. All the other warriors around Alexander were always called My Lord, or some other title. The fucking Companions were the worst for being addressed properly – always full of their own self-importance and quick to pounce on anyone for any perceived slight on their status.

Me, I was always just plain Slioch to everybody. Still I didn't care – it wasn't like I was a prince or a satrap or anybody important.

I was puzzled to see Ohrmuzd at Aornos. He was head of Roxanna's bodyguard and never went far from her side. He looked like he'd ridden hard – his cloak was covered in dirt and dust from the roads and he looked careworn.

I smiled – maybe Roxanna was on her way here to see her Lord before we pushed east into India and he'd come ahead to prepare her way. If she was coming here then maybe Anahita was with her!

I saw a look of pain flit across his grey eyes. Something was wrong.

"Slioch," he began hesitantly, "Good to see you."

"Good to see you," he repeated nervously wringing his hands.

"And you too, Ohrmuzd," I beamed. My soul felt light at the prospect of perhaps seeing Anahita again before this summer's campaign.

"What brings you so far from Bactra? All is well with the princesses?" I asked eagerly.

Ohrmuzd sighed and drew his the back of his right hand across his furrowed brow.

"You recall that business with my son." He pursed his lips at the painful recollection.

I nodded.

"You helped him regain his honour, and for that I am forever in your debt."

I could see his eyes moisten at the memory of his son's disgrace.

"I….I come ahead of a party." His voice faltered.

"The princesses come….. but I rushed on ahead to see you, warn you…." His face was etched with pain. He looked reluctant to go on.

I frowned with puzzlement.

"There…..there is … is talk," he stammered, frantically wringing his hands. "The princesses."

I gripped the hilt of my sword and swallowed hard. My heart was thumping in my chest. For the first time in years I was paralysed with fear.

"The princesses," Ohrmuzd plaintively repeated. "The talk…the talk is that … is that they have taken lovers and I wanted to warn you."

Now that he had blurted it out a wave of relief washed over him and he visibly relaxed.

I felt crushed. It was like the huge warrior I had defeated days ago outside the walls of Aornos had smashed his mighty sword into my skull. My ears were ringing. I felt dizzy. I felt sick. I was wobbling on my feet. My vision was blurred. My heart had stopped beating. I sank to my knees, a broken man.

"Falling doesn't hurt. Landing does."

I remembered Lughaidh telling me this as a boy when I first fell in love with a girl who didn't even notice me, never mind like me. She was a dark haired beauty from the Catuvellauni – the battle chieftains. They were a tough tribe of warriors from the soft lands down south. They'd come up from their stronghold beside a river to trade some of our famous stone axe heads. My heart stopped at the sight of her, but she paid as much attention to me as the sheep shit she trod in when she came into our hut.

I was heart broken when she and her fierce warrior father left for their rich, warm lands in the south.

Lughaidh words of comfort had drifted across the soft, sweet, warm air of the hay meadow in the fading light of a summer evening. I'd never known what he meant until now.

I was sitting on a big boulder on the bank of a fast flowing mountain stream, far from Alexander's camp. I stared at the dancing light on the whirls and eddies of the clear water as is plunged and darted between and over the rocks in the stream bed. The tinkling sound of the water was strangely soothing.

I shook myself. I was cold. I looked up at the pale sky – the sun was setting. I had no idea how long I had been sitting here. Most of the day I would guess from the lowness of the sun.

I raised my arms above my head and stretched. Time to go back to the camp and face Anahita and her new lover.

It had been good while it was lasted, but who was I? A nobody! I shook my head. It was no surprise that Anahita should chose another. She could chose anyone she wanted and from what Ohrmuzd had said, she had chosen well in Tahmouress.

Ohrmuzd said he was the son of a Persian prince. Fucking royalty, no less and me just a sheep herder from the cold, damp north! Not only that but he was tall, handsome and wealthy! And just to really rub it in, he was a brave warrior, as good with a sword as me!

I could see why she had chosen him over me.

I stood up and cursed the gods of ill fortune.

Time to move on.

I'd got a fortress to take for Alexander – the one immovable rock in my world.

I stood on the heights of Aornos and looked down at the slaughter below me. I felt sick.

Alexander had persuaded a large part of the garrison to leave the safety of the fort and then slaughtered them. Once they were outside the fort, they had to cross a small patch of open ground before they could reach the relative safety of the steep stony path that threaded its way down the towering rock cliffs to the valley floor.

He'd promised them safe passage but broke his word.

There was no honour in this and I felt shamed by the actions of my beloved Alexander. This was not the man I had known for most of my adult life.

He was now a ruthless tyrant who cared not for honour, glory or treasure. All he wanted was conquest – at any price.

I couldn't tell if I felt sick at his betrayal or Anahita's.

Both turned my stomach.


End file.
